AMC Atlantic Times Square 14

450 N. Atlantic Boulevard,

Monterey Park,
CA91754

I took my first trip to the ATS and its amazing. Its so Loews, yet so AMC. It has the Loews spotlight design on the outside design and inside the carpet has the loews spotlights. Three auditoriums (1, 2 and 14) are handicap accesible on the top. Definity you don’t see that much anymore. It is an odd design as its all one long hallway with 12 theaters and 2 in the main corridor. Stairs take you from the lobby to the theaters and a ramp hidden behind a false wall for handicap. The theaters are also numbered counter clockwise which is rare.. Especially for AMC. It has large screens even in the smaller auditoriums. It took a step away from AMC in the auditorium design.

I believe it was of the “Star” design vintage which was from the partnership Loews had with Star Theaters – the folks that ran that chain were hired to run the chain under Sony – they were excellent. When they sold out to the Canadians and formed Loews Cineplex, everything went to hell shortly thereafter – at that time they were transitioning I believe from a hybrid of the Star design with more theming to less theming which looks more like the Cineplex Odeon big box style, with Loews Alderwood in WA being the first that comes to mind that was of the Cineplex vintage.

Actually, the now closed Magic Johnson Theatres on Crenshaw/MLK was the first Loews built in Los Angeles. Yeah…it wasn’t Loews branded, but the design of that theatre is just like the other Loews multiplexes.

Interesting but the Loews was certainly not “Loew’s”. The last few years after Sony ran the company, which were amongst the best in terms of operations, I found as a customer were downright awful. Under Loews Cineplex the theaters became dirty with poor quality customer service and projection – AMC has been better, but under Loews Cineplex I mostly would go elsewhere – poor management destroyed that company.

As for the design, while I haven’t seen it, I do know of the (forth/fifth?) to last AMC Loews that opened (well tied, I think another opened the same day) – in Rockaway, NJ. It owes quite a bit in design to the Cineplex Odeon locations. The next (third?) to open I think was Garden State which had the Loews structure but was finished in AMC style (with AMC seats, carpets, lobby fixtures, ect) – which I’m guessing Atlantic Times Square will be, it’s nicer than Rockaway.

Having visited the Cineplex Odeon Queensway outside of Toronto I can say, short of expanded concessions, the design roughly similar to AMC Rockaway. This center I’d argue from the plans and intel Jeff has posted over on Cinematour, like Garden State, isn’t a cookie cutter free standing box (it can’t be, its designed around a shopping center).

“Loews Theaters” really exists in name only – unlike Regal and Cinemark that still open theaters under the Edwards and Century brands they acquired, AMC chose not to treat Loews as a brand, instead it served as a theater name, my guess to differentiate the theaters that were served by Fandango and those that were served by Movietickets.com – a divide that still exists 4+ years after the merger.

The employees, even though they dont know much about older chains, work in a cinema treasure of its own. The last theater by the largest name in exibition at one point. This 14 plex represents the end of Loews, with its spotlights.

Wow, what a statement.“this theatre is the last ever LOEWS” do you know how much cinema history that includes to say the end to a chain of theatres,that i think i probably would have enjoyed to punch a time clock for.